3 down... 3 to go...(i'll explain)

OK well like the title says i've got 3 days of work completed and i still have 3 to go... it would have been "...and 4 to go" but i got off sunday because i have to drive home for my dad being appointed as an elder! My mom wanted us all to be there for that. I dont know about how you guys do things at your churches... let me see....there are qualifications for decons and elders in the new testament... its in Timothy...chapter 5 i believe?

"5The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint[1] elders in every town, as I directed you. 6An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 7Since an overseer[2] is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless--not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. 8Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. 9He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. "

(thats the part on elders... there is also a similar one for decons...)


they are two kinds of organizational leaders of churches... decons are usually assigned to doing the work of the church though organizing and planning and stuff... one example might be like being in charge of organizing the collection of food to give to needy people in the community, or in charge of mission trips and mission activities, or in visiting widows, you get the picture... there might be about 20 of those in our church of 600... elders are the ones in charge of the bigger scope of things. If you check out the qualifications for each, you can see that the qualifications for being an elder are stricter... this is because they have more responsibility. They might decide things such as- when to hire someone like a precher or youth minister ect... they also manage all of the churches finances- they decide things like how much of the money goes to missionaries, if or when to build a new auditorium.... in addition to this they are overseers that are in part responsible for the spiritual condition of the members..... so lile they will go talk to someone if they think they are struggling with something spiritual in order to get them back on the right track. Its a lot more pressue than you might think. Elders usually have weekly meetings where they discuss how things are, and what the game plan is... so to speak... there is no set number, but i would say on average we have about 5-7.... sometimes they step down because they get too old, or if they move away far enough to not be able to go to church anymore... now with all of that said... my dad has been asked to be an elder. They gave him 2 weeks to think about it and he has decided to accept their offer. I think its really cool that he is getting recognized for the spiritual man he is. I also think its cool because if you read the qualifications- you see that in addition to stuff like - not drinking, being a good husband, ect (its been awhile since i've read over them) they have to have proven themselves to be fathers of good childeren... that means that Todd and I were considered in the process of choosing someone.. The reasoning here being- if they raised crappy kids.... they probably would be that good of spiritual leaders for the church. I'm just glad that i was atleast good enough to let him have this chance. Ok i gotta go to class- later!